Feed Your Child What's Good for Teeth

A healthy diet naturally supplies all the nutrients your child needs to grow. It helps make teeth and gums healthy, strong, and pain-free.

A healthy diet includes lots of fruits and vegetables and a good balance of grains, dairy products, meat, fish, and nuts. Be careful not to include too many sugars and starches because these can lead to tooth decay. Every time your child eats sugary food, acids attack for 20 minutes or longer. The more acid attacks that teeth have to endure, the more likely it is that tooth decay and cavities will develop.

Most children don’t practice good dental health when snacking, so it’s important to keep healthy snack ideas for your children in mind. Save sugary foods, specially gooey or chewy sweets, for dessert, when your child can brush teeth soon after eating.

Healthy snack ideas include:

• fresh fruits and raw vegetables such as apples, oranges, melons, pineapple, celery, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices
• grains such as bread, plain bagels, unsweetened cereals, unbuttered popcorn, low-salt pretzels, and plain crackers
• milk and dairy products like low or non-fat milk, low or non-fat yogurt or cottage cheese, and low or non-fat cheese
• high-protein foods like sliced chicken and turkey, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and nuts